The coming week is the Galungan week in Bali. With Galungan the ancestors come back to the family temples to remember that the good forces (dharma) won from the bad forces (adharma). This ceremony is very important in the lives of the Balinese, but in these times, where the numbers of COVID-19 deaths are spiking, also worrisome. People will travel back to their ancestral villages and pray in public temples which possibly can lead to a spreading of the virus.
Based on the ceremonial activities next week we have pushed our hand outs of the coming week to this week, making sure everybody has food for the coming week. In total we have distributed 67.776 meals till now.
Yesterday we were followed during our hand out in Desa Adat Bitera by the NOS, the Dutch News Network. The procedure of packing our food packages, the hand out itself, as well interviews with receivers and with Shandy Wijaya (chairperson of Yayasan Bali Bersih and secretary of Westerlaken foundation) were recorded.